Moving database files to other systems

Some of the sections below refer to endian type. If you don’t know what endian type your machine is, see Endian types below.

Moving ISAM database files to an ISAM machine

If the machines have different endian types, you can only transfer files in this manner if your records do not contain integer data. If your records contain integer data, see Using integer data in your records and moving between endian machines below.

Moving files from RMS to ISAM

1. Unload your files to sequential files using isload or CONVERT/FDL.
2. Transfer them to the other machine.
3. Reload the file on the target machine using fconvert (on Windows and UNIX) or isload or CONVERT/FDL (on OpenVMS).

Do not use FTP in binary mode on the sequential output files.

Using integer data in your records and moving from ISAM little endian to or from RMS

1. Unload and then reload your files using fconvert (on Windows and UNIX) or isload or CONVERT/FDL (on OpenVMS) and counted format on both your source and target machines.
2. Transfer the counted output file in binary mode.

Using integer data in your records and moving between endian machines

You must write the conversion routines yourself. See %CNV_IP and %CNV_PI for subroutines that enable you to convert integer data to portable form and vice versa.

Endian types

The following table lists the endian types of various systems.

Configuration

Endian type

HP OpenVMS Alpha

Alpha Native Little

HP OpenVMS I64

Itanium Native Little

HP-UX 64-bit (Itanium)

64-bit Big

IBM AIX 32-bit

Big

IBM AIX 64-bit

64-bit Big

Linux 32-bit

Little

Linux 64-bit

64-bit Little

Oracle Solaris 32-bit

Big

Oracle Solaris 64-bit (SPARC)

64-bit Big

VSI OpenVMS Integrity

Itanium Native Little

Windows 32-bit

Little

Windows 64-bit

64-bit Little